Will-o'-the-wisp

Epic card · No. 9781

In folklore, a will-o'-the-wisp, or will-o'-wisp (Latin: ignis fatuus, "foolish flame"), is an atmospheric ghost light seen by travellers at night, especially over bogs, swamps, or marshes. In folklore, will-o'-the-wisps are typically attributed as ghosts, fairies or elemental spirits meant to reveal (or conceal) a path or direction. These wisps are portrayed as dancing or flowing in a static form, until noticed or followed, in which case they visually fade or disappear. Modern science explains the light aspect as natural phenomena such as bioluminescence or chemiluminescence, caused by the oxidation of phosphine (PH3), diphosphane (P2H4) and methane (CH4), produced by organic decay.

Read on Wikipedia · Image Hermann Hendrich, Public domain